Erling’s Variety

I had lunch with girlfriends at Erling’s Variety this week. We asked the server to recommend dishes and everything he brought was absolutely amazing — especially the warm kale salad and the scallops. Great wine, lovely atmosphere in a cute spot tucked right off Bank Street in the Glebe — we would definitely go back.

I’ve been here a few times and it really has its pros and cons. Pros: décor, atmosphere, service, food. All of these are five stars. Cons: value for your money. The pricing is a bit shocking when you see the portion sizes. I saw another reviewer call it a tapas bar. Well, depending on your appetite, you have to buy quite a few plates for two people to have a full meal and most plates I’ve order haven’t really been as sharable as I think they could be. I think if the prices were 10−15% cheaper, this would be a five star rating. I will definitely go back but only when I want a special tasty treat of a meal — perhaps a meal before a big night out.

One of my favourite spots in all of Ottawa! Local, quaint vibe. Excellent food — especially the appetizers. There isn’t one appetizer I haven’t tried. Great ambiance and restaurant set up with open bar/​kitchen. Always feel very welcome when I go.

A wonderful atmosphere and delicious menu! The wait staff were great, knowledgeable, and gracious about our large party with lots of questions, musical chairs, and separate checks (especially Mel, who did an amazing job!). Small plates were perfect for sampling lots of flavors, good wine list, good local coffee. Pasta was fresh and prepared beautifully with kale and other seasonal veggies. Lavender pavlova was amazing.

I couldn’t say much more than this:
Go.
Amazing food, incredible service, great mixed drinks… just go.

Excellent food, excellent server. A beautiful night out (a rare treat) that did not disappoint. Lovely casual environment with top quality food. Loved it, will definately return.

Super awesome tapas restaurant.
Love the décor of this place.
Service is impeccable.
We had:
Oysters (6 for $ 15): Delicious !
Beef Tartare ($ 18): Amazeballs !
Halibut ($ 20): This was ok, it was super expensive for the tiny piece of fish that you get.
Frog Legs (?): It was ok
Duck (?): Best duck I’ve ever had, sorry Absinthe (previous review)
Would come back again, when I save up enough money.

Went with friends the other day off a friends recommendation…
The décor is fun and I love the open kitchen area, I would sit at the bar next time so you could watch the fun.
Service was impeccable, we had a reso so we were seated quickly and offered drinks, great selection of cocktails and some nice wines. Our server was very informative and brought us up to speed on their menu.
I had the scallops (3) with a nice purée — $ 15 — $ 18…can’t recall, and then I had the pickerel as well $ 18.00, tasty but a really small piece of fish…
The food was really good, but wow I struggle with paying $ 18.00 for a scallop dish which is basically an appetizer
food, service, décor etc. I give it 4 stars… the price brought it to 3 stars.

What a beautiful place! Love the big windows, open kitchen with circular pot rack, and the lit up giant shelf at one end.
The food is good too. My wife got the gnocchi which was very rich and tasty. The mushrooms were particularly good. I got the bison carpaccio which was served with some crispy things which were great for scooping up the meat, leaves, and sauces. But I feel they missed an opportunity for some stronger bits of flavor to contrast with the meat. We got the fries served with aioli and house ketchup. Their house ketchup tasted a bit like plum sauce and was a bit too sweet for fries. The aioli was good. The fries were fresh and thicker than we expected.

Was surprised at how much I enjoyed this place. It is a place you will want to go with a significant other or some friends u don’t mind sharing food with. I say this because everything is small plates that come out at different times so you will want to share to simply try all the various flavours and so that one person isn’t stuck watching everyone else eat. To start the charcuterie board was delicious. We tried the Dutch Gouda with the duck it came with a cranberry jam, pickled quell eggs (which had a sweet taste), and some croutons. The next thing to arrive was a cauliflower gratin with crab that’s was absolutely comfort food very rich but heavenly. The following was a salad which was odd but a nice change of pace as it contained heirloom carrots, avocado and arugula but had a spicy curry type of kick (maybe hot mustard ?) to it, personally I think it should of had some kind of sweetness to it to balance the heat (mangos possibly?). But the mussels with chorizo sausage in a tomato broth and cilantro. This dish was my favourite as it was much different then any other seafood dish I have ever had but was a nice change of pace. As we were not yet done that dish the scallops showed up which kind of was a clash of tastes but wasn’t terrible. The pork belly and scallops were both cooked to perfection but the tomato jam was to sweet personally for me to have paired with the scallops but was decent with the pork. The squash purée that came with it was a good pairing though. As far as the atmosphere goes I was pleasantly surprised. The kitchen is wide open to the restaurant without the kitchen staff ruining your meal, was a very high class hipster vibe going on. As there is various hand crafted paintings along the walls where you are seated. The one wall is simply filled with boxes of knock knacks so u have a lot to look at without feeling that there is to much going on. I would highly recommend and will personally be going back to try again for sure.

This place is interesting. Hipster-​ish but it’s also got the glebe-​Ites. Very limber-​sexual. Great selection of beer on tap and wines –eclectic.
The brussel sprouts are a must try. Had the fries which were bland. Need salt!
Would come back again.

First time visit. Group of 5 in Nov 2014.
First issue was plates all arrived at different times forcing people to choose between eating cold meat or eating before others were served.
Plates took a long time with irregular serving.
–Salad was excellent.
–Seafood and pork chowder soup good.
–Scallops were only 3 for price not a good value. Hardly any food on that plate. Skip it. Taste good.
–Braised ribs — two per plate. Gravy is very rich. Meat properly cooked. Not over done. Again not good value.
–Scalloped potatoes were excellent. Served piping hot.
–Duck good. But again for price not good value. More condiments than meat. I’ll pass.
–Wine selection fine. Beer selection is mostly micro breweries. Fine.
–Pop/​soda over priced. No refills.
Nice setting/​atmosphere. Enjoyed it. Can be loud on Sat night around ⁸⁄₈₃₀.
Overall good not excellent. Would not return again but try it once as you may get better results.

I’ve been about 6 times over the past 4 – 5 months, 4 times for dinner, and twice for breakfast. I’m not sure which meal I prefer, the staff is always super friendly, and the menus are short but somehow have more than enough options for a picky eater like myself.
Breakfast — the eggs benedict with the Jalapeño/​apple relish is soooo good, comes with smashed potatoes and a small salad. The breakfast sandwich is also good, but I prefer the benny.
Dinner — my suggestion is to go with a group of 4 people, and order plate after plate to share. We recently did this, on our last visit and it was the most enjoyable. The scallop potatoes, beef short rib, brussel sprouts, arctic char and mushroom dish were the highlights for our group.
I look forward to any chance I get to go to Erlings, it’s also not too far of a walk from centertown

When I travel, I typically make reservations ahead of time if a restaurant seems especially popular. But in planning this particular trip to Ottawa, I felt this sense of malaise wash over me, if you will. It manifested itself in this desire to not be beholden to a dinner reservation.
And so it was that we wound up at Ehrling’s recently at about 6:00 on Thursday night, only to be told the place was fully booked. As we were walking back to the car and I began scrambling for a plan B, an employee from the restaurant ran towards us to let us know they had a last minute cancellation. Yay us! We felt even more elated when just a few minutes later, we noticed another party of 3 being turned away. In dining as in life, it really is all about timing.
At any rate, we settled in and took in the lovely dining space and open kitchen. We glanced over the (small plates) menu and decided to order minimally and see how it went. Our server was pleasant but did not really go out of his way to recommend any menu items or make any sort of lasting impression.
We started with a raw brussels sprouts salad, which ultimately bummed us out because it was overwhelmed with lettuce and there were very few actual brussels sprouts to be seen – or tasted. We had expected this much maligned veggie to be front and center in this salad. Call us perverse, but we are a family of brussels sprouts lovers… even our kid. That being said, the salad was good; just not what we expected.
Another poster talked about not liking the roasted cauliflower dish with raisins, pine nuts and chili flakes because the florets were too firm – but that is actually what we liked most about it. The dish was full of flavor and the firm bite from the cauliflower worked for us, making it feel more summery (which is when we dined there).
Aside from the cauliflower, I’d say our favorite dish was the sliced beef tenderloin in a mushroom sauce. Not especially innovative but definitely yummy.
We also got the salad nicoise which I really wound up regretting. I think I had a momentary lapse in forgetting my deep conviction that really high quality olive oil packed tuna makes the best salade nicoise. I sort of got sucked into the idea of this salad with seared fresh tuna and cute little quail eggs. But the tuna turned out to taste kind of bland and looked like it had been seared ahead of time, And the salad was composed mostly of the same lettuce we’d already eaten with the brussels sprouts. Meanwhile, we kept seeing this scallops and pork belly dish go by that looked fabulous. Sigh.
My kid got a small plate of ribs, which he pretty much hogged (pardon the pun) and we got some fries for the table. We were full at this point, after a total of 6 plates.
I wish there was a 3.5 star option, but since there is not, I am giving this restaurant 3 stars. It has a lot potential, but it just isn’t quite there yet.

Looks like Erling’s has made the jump from upstart to bona fide food institution. Great service, drinks, not too noisy, and cool open concept kitchen. Might want to make a reservation.

A new addition to the Glebe and probably one of the hippest spots in the neighbourhood. The basic format is small plates and two per person will usually suffice. It’s an open kitchen, so you get to see and hear all of the activity behind the counter. This does make it loud, with sizzles and banging pots and plates, but it’s all part of the atmosphere. The wait staff is excellent and great at advising how best to mix and match small plates for the best overall meal. We started with the Bresaola, a beef version of prosciutto served with arugula, pickled onions, parmesan, capers, truffle oil and olive oil. The overall taste sensation is absolutely mouth watering and surprisingly original. I loved it. Pickled and roasted beets served with panko-​crusted goat cheese, arugula and roasted walnut vinaigrette was also amazing. The scallops and the duck confit were both very good, but not dissimilar from what you’d find elsewhere. The one disappointment for me was the roasted cauliflower with raisins, lemon, chill flakes and pine nuts where it seemed to me that the fairly crunchy florets didn’t have time to absorb any of the other flavours.
Erling’s also has a late night menu for Friday and Saturday serving a variety of plates from 10:30 pm to 1:30 am. The icing on the cake for me is that they make one of the best espressos in town. You’d best make a reservation for a weekend visit, but we were able to walk in on a weekday.

Great restaurant — good vibe, doesn’t try too hard and is very good at what they do. Seafood dishes are excellent — scallops were a highlight of the meal. Meat plates are meaty enough to satisfy and sides are flavorful. Next time I would love to sit at the bar to see all the plating and delicious food go by!
Cocktails were nice, staff was friendly, ambience and décor are great.

I found this restaurant by this APP! This is a good to have dinner^U^ delicious food and friendly service!

Open for dinner! Omg let the yummy noises begin!

It’s great to see something like this open in Ottawa — exceptional, friendly service, amazingly beautiful and delicious plates, great cocktail list and talented barkeep, great ambience!
Very happy to have found and experienced Erling’s Variety!